According to a speed test, SpaceX’s Starlink satellite is capable of delivering internet speeds that are comparable to those of broadband.
Nearly 90,000 active users of Starlink have surpassed traditional satellite internet in terms of download speeds.
According to a new analysis by Ookla, Starlink’s Internet performance has increased significantly and is now comparable to wired broadband.
Recently, Elon Musk, the firm’s CEO, revealed that global coverage would be enabled after the company reached 69,420 active users.
During Q2 2021, Ookla’s speed test report compared HughesNet, Starlink, and Viasat and found them all to be promising.
At 97.23 megabits per second (Mbps), Starlink was the only satellite internet provider in the United States with latency figures comparable to those of fixed-broadband connections in Q2 2021. (up from 65.72 Mbps in Q1 2021).
As of the first quarter of 2021, HughesNet was in second place with 19.73 Mbps (15.07 Mbps) and Viasat was in third with 18.13 Mbps (17.67 Mbps in Q1 2021).
In Q2 2021, the median download speed for all fixed broadband providers in the U.S. was 115.22 Mbps, although building twenty miles (or more) of trench to connect to local infrastructure is still preferable, the report indicated.
Upload speed on Starlink was 13.89 Mbps, which is comparable to fixed broadband (17.18 Mbps in Q2 2021, 15.99 Mbps in Q1 2021).
Viasat, the satellite internet provider with the second-fastest upload speed, was closely behind Starlink.
While HughesNet had an upload speed of 2.43 Mbps, it had an upload speed of 3.38 Mbps.
It was noted in the Ookla analysis that Starlink has the lowest median latency of the three providers.
Because of its constellation of low earth orbit (LEO) satellites, Starlink was able to accomplish this feat.
A typical internet service provider is farther away from the earth’s surface because of this. For their satellites, Viasat and HughesNet use higher “geosynchronous” orbits of roughly 35,000 km.
Starlink was speedier than the other two because of this.
Starlink’s president, Gwynne Shotwell, said in June that the corporation has deployed 1,800 satellites, and that after all of those satellites reach their operational orbits, Starlink will have continuous global coverage by the end of the month of September.
Starlink currently offers beta services in 11 countries, including the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and parts of Europe, according to the company’s press materials. Around 42,000 Starlink satellites are expected to be launched by SpaceX into low-Earth orbit by the middle of 2027.
